Gary Pilnick, CEO WK Kellogg (an American food manufacturer – including cereal flakes) commented on the company's activities aimed at attracting customers who are under pressure from high prices in stores.
The company distributes, among others: an action that is intended to encourage consumers to make a choice Kellogg cereal not only during breakfast.
Cereals for breakfast, cereals for dinner…
“Consumers are under pressure… so we advertise cereal for dinner. If you think about the cost of cereal for a family compared to what else they could do, it's a lot more affordable…” he said on CNBC last week Gary Pilnick.
“The breakfast cereal category is a place where many people can go because the price of a bowl of cereal with milk and fruit is less than a dollar. So it's easy to imagine why a pressured consumer might consider it a good choice,” Pilnick added.
“It turns out that over 25 percent of breakfast cereal consumption takes place outside breakfast time – many of them are eaten for dinner. This trend is constantly growing,” Pilnick said. “Cereal for dinner are probably becoming more fashionable now, and we expect this to continue as consumers feel the pressure,” said CEO WK Kellogg.
The media reminds that so far in many countries stores keep food prices high. In January non-seasonally adjusted consumer price index (CPI) in the US was 3.1 percent r:r – informed the Office of Labor Market Statistics.
Wave of criticism after the statement of CEO WK Kellogg
Words from CEO WK Kellogg commented, among others: senator of the Democratic Party Peter Welch. “A Kellogg employee earning $20 an hour would have to work for 96 years to earn what CEO Gary Pilnick earns annually, or $4 million. People don't need cereal for lunch, they need corporations to stop stealing from them (…)” – Welch emphasized.
The statement is also commented on by consumers on social media. Some believe that the CEO of W. K. Kellogg he has no idea what reality is like in the USA and his statement shows that he ignores the problem of people struggling with poverty. Commentators remind us: not everyone can afford to buy branded cereals often.
“They don't have bread? “Let them eat cake” – the discussions also include references to the famous quote, which is often attributed to the French queen (Marie Antoinette was said to have said these words when she was informed that the people were starving).